Live from the happiest place on earth!

[OhhBother]

Hi all. Today's our first day at Disney World. We'll be here until next Sunday.

We arrived last night around 9:30. Flew into the Sanford airport and rented a car. Stopped by Goodings and got groceries. We then headed to Saratoga Springs. We had done online check-in, so everything was a breeze. We were settled in our room by 11:10 p.m.

This morning, we got up early and went to EMH at Hollywood Studios. It was about 8:30 when we walked through the turnstiles. We headed to TSMM, which had a 60-minute wait. We grabbed fast passes then went to RNRC, which was a walk on. We then went back to TSMM, which now said 40 minutes. Actual wait time was 25 minutes.

After that, we went to Muppets, Great Movie Ride and American Idol with no wait. We then went back to TSMM and used our fast passes. Finally, we headed to Disney Animation to meet the Up! characters, which was really neat. Wait was about 20 minutes. Before we left, we grabbed another set of TSMM fast passes with a return time of 6:05.

We normally try to avoid EMH mornings, but this worked best for our schedule. Crowds were very manageable. Temperatures are hot, but it's not overly humid.

For lunch, we headed back to the resort and had sandwiches and soup at Artist's Palette. Very good and inexpensive -- DH and I both ate for $17.

We're back in the room now to escape the heat. This evening, we're heading back to Hollywood Studios. We plan to use our TSMM fast passes and catch the American Idol finale. After that, it's dinner at Wolfgang Puck Express at Downtown Disney.

I'll try to post updates as I can. Thanks!

 

[kat3668]

Sounds like your having a great time!
We'll be arriving Thurs at SSR!
Can't wait~!!! Enjoy your trip!!

 

[CanadianPaco]

Sounds great!!! Have fun!!!

 

[MomPOM]

Sounds like a great way to be doing the park. Nice and leisurely. Have a great time!

 

[Zippa D Doodah]

Sounds like an awesome day. Glad to hear you worked around the TSMM wait times.

 

[OhhBother]

Sunday, Sept. 27 -- Day Two

We spent this morning at Magic Kingdom. Park was as crowded as I've seen it in several trips (we always travel off-season). Walkways had tons of people, but rides times were manageable.

We rode Winnie the Pooh with a five-minute wait around 9:20, and we grabbed fast passes for Peter Pan (wait was already 25 minutes). We doubled back to Buzz Lightyear, which we rode three times with no wait. We then rode TTA then went back to FantasyLand, where we used our Peter Pan FPs and rode IASW with a five-minute wait.

We had an early lunch at Cosmic Ray's then shopped a bit on Main Street. We've spent the afternoon watching football and napping in the room.

We have dinner reservations at The Wave at 5:45, then we're going back to MK for EMH. I wasn't able to ride Dumbo this morning because the line was already too long. I hope to catch Dumbo around midnight.

 

[Tinkerbella001]

We just left SSR yesterday we had a wonderful time and can't wait to go back! Almost all of the rides were walk on, and we got FP for TSM. We got them for a few other rides but didn't need them when we went back! I have unused ones for Splash Mnt, Soarin, RNRC, EE and even Peter Pan! Great for the scrapbook... The humidity was intense but we survived. Only rained twice even though forecast was for every day.

 

[DanMedix]

Glad you guys are having fun! Nice report so far! I've never stayed at SSR (not a DVC member ) but I've seen it, and walked thru a bit of it.

Also, where did you fly out of? How long of a drive is it from Sanford?

 

[Echo queen]

Thanks for your live updates.

 

[OhhBother]

Oh my -- EMH at the MK was a mess last night. It's been YEARS since I've seen that many people in a park. We rode Jungle Cruise and POTC with a 10-minute wait each, but everything else was too long of a wait for us. Splash was 30, BTMRR was 40, PP was 45, etc.

We ended up just walking around and enjoying the beauty of the park at night -- still a lot of fun.

Before EMH, we had dinner at The Wave -- a new must-do for us. Eveything DH and I had was delicious. He even asked me to cancel Le Cellier later this week so we could go back there, but I said no!

We're off to Universal this morning. We've never been, and we have the free Super Bowl tickets. DH wants to ride the Jurassic Park ride.

 

[TLinden16]

Live updates are a better fit on our trip reports board, so I'm going to move this there now.

 

[OhhBother]

Day three -- Monday, Sept. 28

We spent this morning at Universal's Islands of Adventure. I felt like a traitor, but we had the free Super Bowl passes, and DH really wanted to ride the Jurassic Park ride.

The park was DEAD! I've never seen anything like it. Not only did we walk on the rides, we walked on them with no one else around. It was crazy. We stayed until about noon and enjoyed our time there. I really like the Dr. Seuss area, but, still, it's not Disney.

We came back and spent the afternoon at the pool. Tonight, we had dinner at Earl of Sandwich -- delicious, as usual. Downtown Disney was much less crowded than Saturday night.

Tomorrow, we're going to Epcot in the morning, then spending the evening at MNSSHP.

 

[DanMedix]

Earl of Sandwich is also a secret fave of me and mine as well. It's so strange that MK was packed, and Universal was like a ghost town! But, then again, Universal is having their HHN right now, so the crowds might be waiting until night time.

 

[Me&3]

Enjoying the live report thanks.